Slaughter of lambs in lion’s den

THE EDITOR: Like thousands of West Indian cricket fans, I am absolutely gutted by the crushing defeat (an innings and 209 runs) by England at Edgbaston with two days to spare.

Beleaguered captain Jason Holder was choking for words at the post-match conference as he called for “more belief.”

As the plane landed in England for this three-Test series, Holder would have known that the last time West Indies won a Test match in England was in 2000 and the last time we won a Test series in England was in 1988.

Out of this squad of 15, only three players had played Test cricket in England.

To add insult to injury, the West Indian batsmen were facing a pink ball in this day/night encounter — the first ever Test match of this type in England.

The cluster of inexperienced West Indian batsmen had no answer to the high-class pace and swing bowling of England’s Stuart Broad and James Anderson with a combined Test tally of close to 900 Test wickets.

Our senior and experienced players, for one reason or the other, continue to sit on the sidelines.

No longer is there the thrill of victory but the constant agony of defeat — West Indies has lost its last six Test series.

I am appealing to Dave Cameron, the current president of the newly-formed Cricket West Indies, to speedily get back the senior and experienced players on board or else the slaughter of the lambs in the lion’s den, barring a miracle, would continue unabashedly.